


Touhou Ship Week 2020

by burning_roses



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:33:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25436209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burning_roses/pseuds/burning_roses
Summary: Prompts from THShipWeek! Tags added as we go, depending on how many and which days I happen to do.
Relationships: Ibaraki Kasen/Yakumo Yukari, Junko/Hecatia Lapislazuli
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	1. Sharing Hobbies - Junko/Hecatia

It was hard keeping up with Hecatia’s modern sensibilities, sometimes. 

The two of them had been partners-in-crime for quite a while, of course, and in a way, Hecatia’s proclivities were more familiar than alienating. She hated stagnation, stillness. In the beginning, it was that drive that brought them together in the first place, after all. The eternal stillness of the moon, pure in its pearlescent beauty, hiding the woman that killed her husband behind layers and layers of torpidity--

She was brilliant and ever-changing, and it was delightful to see how excited she could get over each new interest. She would talk for hours to a faintly smiling Junko, and she would indulge those interests with her. Sometimes games of chance, sometimes sequential art or books. Now? Now she was interested in devices. They were not lacking in similarities to the animations she’d seen her watching in the past, except these, evidently, required a great deal of input in order to tell their narratives. It made it difficult to talk to her about. And while she watched her quite a few times, her explanations about what she was actually doing tended to leave Junko wanting, not helped by her somewhat rambling manner of speaking.

The simple truth was, Junko had to adapt. She had to understand. And if she was going to do so, she’d have to take the control of the simulation herself. 

A deep breath as she lowered herself in front of the somewhat outdated laptop. Hecatia, floating somewhere just behind her, resting her chin on her shoulder as her arms came to wrap around her front.

“‘Kay, so uh- you’ve got the basic controls and everything, right?” 

“It seems. The left button is for primary functions, such as selecting units and commands. The right is for alternative functions.”

“Right, yeah.” 

“The keys--”

“There are a lot of shortcuts you can learn, but you don't have to memorize 'em right away. You just use wazdee to move where the camera goes.”

“I use… what, now?”

“Uh, right here.” W, A, S, D. Junko did know contemporary English-- the landscape of her mind contoured perfectly to the evolution of all manner of language-- but the way Hecatia pronounced it certainly left something to be desired. 

“Ctrl-A selects everything visible in your camera, and you can press X to order an attack, T for stop, R to repeat an action indefinitely and--”

“Hecatia.”

“Babe?”

“I-- Which one is--”

“Oh! Oh. Right here. Control.”

“Thank you.”

The whole system was an abstraction of real warfare, with supply lines and technological advancements simplified to a system of resource management. A lapse in one’s attention could result in some part of the supply chain function inefficiently, developing an unnecessary stockpile of the aforementioned abstract resources that could be put to more immediate use or falling to disrepair or ruin in some way. And other individuals-- other players, commanding each of their own armies-- would periodically attack, sabotaging her base. 

“It’s alright, babe. You’re doing way good for a starter.”

The first match, a failure. Her military stronghold razed to the ground, her people slaughtered, her resources pillaged and plundered. She took in a quiet breath.

“Yes. A few defeats are necessary, on the path to victory. One does not learn from frictionless success.”

It was simple. It was all so simple. It was not a complex simulation, but numerous smaller ones meant to confuse and befuddle the humans playing it. She merely had to focus, to find the most efficient path to victory. 

By the second match, she had mastered every hotkey the game had-- snapping between locations to ensure everything was running smoothly. 

By the third-- foxflares burning behind her-- she had the entire techtree memorized. Which were worth investing in, which were a waste of time or too circumstantial to bother with. 

By the fourth, she had won, and quickly decided that it was not enough to merely have won once, and Hecatia had relocated to her lap, laying her head against her and closing her eyes for a quick nap.

By the thirty-sixth match, she had earned some kind of accolade. Her profile name was now in gold and had some manner of wreath around it, and she had won every single war simulation since the eighth. 

By the fifty-eighth, she was barred from playing, receiving a notification that third-party software (she did not know what that meant, entirely) was banned, and that she was under review for her reaction times, and her account would be suspended until the staff could determine if she had been cheating a miraculous fifty-game-long winning streak at the highest levels of play mere hours after her account was created.

She stared at the screen, dumbfounded, as the flames around her quietly cooled. 

She looked down at Hecatia, gently brushing her hands through her hair.

“...My love?”

“Mnhh? Hey, babe. You winnin’?”

“I believe I am no longer allowed to play. Evidently, they suspect my nature as nonhuman.”

Hecatia yawned. “That’s rad,” she eventually replied, sleepily kissing her on the tummy. “Fuck ‘em, and fuck the rules.”

Junko chuckled, leaning back, brushing her thumb through a lock of red hair. “I can see why you find these war games so engaging. To see your enemies brought to ruin before you, to shatter the carefully-laid plans of your unsuspecting foes, rendered helpless by superior skill and planning--”

“Nahh,” Hecatia murmured. “I suck at this game.”

“...Oh?”

Hecatia shrugged. “That’s not really my thing. I'm way too much of a goddamn scatterbrain.” 

She hummed. “I’ve known you to be quite reliable.”

“Pff. That’s ‘cause you’ve only ever known me while I was with you. Back in the old days we were all high on ambrosia, and my whole family tree was busy throwin’ around curses and turning people into livestock and shit. I’m a party gal at heart.” 

Hecatia tilted her head, nuzzling into her palm. “I just figured you’d have fun with it, y’know? Like, it was totally a you thing.”

Junko found herself smiling, just a little bit. That strange woman she was terribly, terribly in love with, sprawled out in her lap, with the power to make her feel things that she thought she had long forgotten. Wistful, misty-eyed, a note of melancholy cuts through her usual harshness in her demeanor, as the fact of the matter sinks in. “...I fear I will not exactly be welcome back. This has been a… decidedly ephemeral experience, in spite of your efforts.”

“You know me, right? I dig the ephemeral.” Hecatia squirmed until she was sitting properly on her lap, stroking a hand down her side as she pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Besides. You probably made a whole ton of nerds mad, and that sorta memory will last forever.”

Junko chuckled, her large sleeves practically blanketing Hecatia as she squeezes around her, pulling their bodies close together. 

“...Thank you. For pushing me like this.” 

“I just like seeing you enjoy yourself.” A moment passed. “But it’s been like, hours, and we should eat or take a bath or-- somethin’. You with me, babe?”

Junko let out a small chuckle, quiet yet bursting with affection. “Always.”


	2. Outside World - Yukari/Kasen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor spoilers for the conclusion of Wild and Horned Hermit, as well as minor references to death.

Kasen didn’t have much business left in the outside world, all things considered. She didn’t quite have the mannerisms and etiquette down-- people in Gensokyo were, all things considered, fairly rude compared to the average citizen of Japan, far more blunt and boisterous than one was expected to be. Kasen had always struggled to walk a path of moderation, which, in this case, felt more like the worst of both worlds. Not quite firm enough to demand respect, but not quite reverent enough to seem humble. Just an inconsiderate woman who was clearly struggling with modern fashion trends, stumbling around a small city in the middle of Japan.

It didn’t matter. The outside world had moved on from immortal hermits and wicked oni alike, and as soon as she was finished with her business, she could return to Gensokyo, resume her meditations in her Senkai, and-- if needed-- keep an eye out for the shrine maiden and her friends, as needed. Money changed hands, for the outside world debts she had yet to pay, and flowers to the families of those consumed by the Arm of Ibaraki, for the debts she knew she couldn’t. It was a quiet affair, and she was relieved to be done with it…

...but she was given pause, seeing a flash of gold in the corner of her eye. She turned sharply on instinct, watching a flutter of blonde hair disappear behind the corner of a building. Her eyes narrowed, pace quickening. Gensokyo could wait. Then again, Gensokyo also couldn’t, if it was coming out to meet her like this.

A right turn, and then a left. Two more right turns, to follow. Over a small bridge, across three different streets, and finally down an alley, and by the time Kasen could see her target in full, her patience had run entirely run dry. 

Bandages lashed out, comfortable in the fact that they were secluded from anyone looking in on the two of them. Wrapping around the arms and waist of Yakumo Yukari, pinning her up against a wall as Kasen drew in a frustrated breath. 

“Quite the greeting,” Yukari purred, looking as insufferably unperturbed as always. 

“If you didn’t want me to tail you, I can think of a few ways you could have just disappeared.” Kasen huffed in response, outstretched bandages beginning to coil back into the shape of an arm, dropping Yukari back onto her feet as she closed the distance between them. “You intended for me to follow you, obviously.”

“Aha! And binding me so-- a bit of personal gratification? Revenge for dragging you here and there, I take it?”

An eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “If all you wanted was to assert your presence, you handled that well enough already. Should I expect another speech about dandelions?”

“It would be tactless to repeat myself,” Yukari pouted. “But I do hope you’re taking more care this time. It would be terrible if something slipped in after you.”

“...It won’t matter soon, anyways. My business here is almost done. Once it is, you and I can both stop worrying about what I leave behind and what I drag back.” Kasen rolled a shoulder. She had to be careful, and she had to be smart. It was easy to get sucked in. All she had to do was avoid being drawn into a debate of ideals, and the whole encounter could be resolved with relatively little fuss. After all, getting flustered or off-balance would only give Yukari more to work with, and she was being enough of a nuisance already--

“Is that a note of disappointment in your tone, Kasen?”

“I'm not hiding anything, but that doesn't mean I like it when you goad me like this,” she sighed. “Really, I would be perfectly willing to talk like two civilized beings, but you’ve always got to make such a show of it…”

“The show is what makes us youkai,” she smiled. Yukari's emphasis on that last word that brought a particularly harsh glare upon her. “But,” she recovered quickly, her smile only growing and timing her interruption at just the right moment to avoid a heated debate, “wouldn’t you know it, there's a lovely place to sit and eat, right here-”

“...What on earth are you talking about.”

“Lovely tea! And the decor, quite tasteful. Ah, well, since you suggested it-”

“I’ve suggested no such thing!”

“Like civilized beings, you said, no? Chatting over cups of tea! Oh, we could split a pastry…”

“Do you simply intend to act like I’ve already agreed to this?”

“Ah! I’ll get the bill for us! My treat, you know!” 

Before Kasen realized what was happening, Yukari was at her side, wrapping an arm around hers. She was shorter than Kasen. A bit heavy. Her dress was soft, and she could feel the warmth of her skin coming off of her, and Kasen’s cheeks were suddenly turning a shade of pink, matching the color of her eyes. 

“A few cups of tea,”

“They have a lovely variety.”

“And one shared pastry.”

“I know you have a weakness, dear.”

“And no games,” she wagged a finger at her. “If this is some power play, I’m leaving.”

“My goodness! Don’t you trust me, even a bit?”

“It would be less cruel to leave the answer unsaid.” Her words were met with a pout, but Kasen paid it little mind, hooking her arm around Yukari’s tightly. “Come on. You offered to pay, so it would be rude to refuse.”

“You won’t regret a thing,” she replied, her smile dazzling.

“I already do.”

And yet-- she looked her over quietly. Over her own embarrassment, she had failed to notice just how sincere Yukari looked, for just a moment. She was quite the actor, certainly, but a bombastic and dramatic one, always playing the villain and casting herself in the harshest of spotlights. This… was something else entirely.

“In the outside world, you’d call this something like a date, wouldn’t you?” Kasen asked, still eyeing her.

“I suppose you would,” Yukari smiled sweetly, as the two approached the entrance to the little cafe. 

One date. Maybe… that wouldn’t be so bad.


End file.
